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Josppeh Kony's crimes against humanity

Here is a viral video telling about the horrible crimes against humanity that this man (the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army) has committed. Despite the fact that these atrocities have been occurring for over two decades almost no-one (until recently) knew what was happening or was willing to take any decisive action. The movement has been gaining alot of traction now and because I did not see any thread about it on these forums I felt I should write about it here for those who do not know. This man must be stopped!

This action is a scam, don't get yourself fooled people. Only 30% percent goes to the charity! This organisation is lobbying US intervention in Africa plus they want to deliver more power for the Ugandan army! Since when delivering more weapons to one side solved a conflict? It will only lead to a larger escalation.

"The problems with the 'Kony 2012' campaign: Ok so let's get this out of the way first, the basic idea of the campaign is great, to raise awareness of a war criminal that uses children as soldiers and sex slaves. Unfortunately the whole campaign seems to be missing the bigger political picture, I think this is nicely demonstrated in the statement of its second goal: 'That the U.S. military advisers support the Ugandan Army until Kony has been captured and the LRA has been completely disarmed. They need to follow through all the way and finish what they have started.' This statement not only suggests that the campaign is in favour of U.S. intervention but is completely uncritical of the Ugandan Government and its army, both of whom are by no means 'the good guys' in this. I can't be bothered going into too much detail but here are a few key points:

1) The Ugandan Government is a dictatorship with Yoweri Museveni as the president since 1986. Among many of its human rights violations the regime tortures prisons, oppresses other political parties and the press and also wishes to introduce a bill that would have 'convicted homosexuals' put to death.

2) In the civil war in which Yoweri Museveni gained power child soldiers were used by his army (National Resistance Army) which is now the army of Uganda but under a different name. (http://www.teachkidspeace.org/doc315.php)

3) The Ugandan army, or rather its high ranking officers have being using 'ghost soldiers' (soldiers who are no longer on the pay-roll) to siphon off funds, making the war even more profitable for them than usual, giving them a vested interest in its continuation. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3514473.stm)
4) (kinda the same point again) War is profitable, especially for large arms economies such as the U.S. and the UK. 'U.S. Military adviser support' may as well say 'we want to US and its arms manufactures /dealers to sell the Ugandan Government shit tons more weapons'. I'm sure there's many more points that could be made, and this is still a really basic explanation that barely goes into any detail, but even a single one of these points is enough to be critical of the campaign and its support of the Ugandan army. If the campaign really wants to be truly supportive of human rights it needs to recognise that Kony is not the only war criminal, all warmongering is a crime against humanity" Unknown

Additionally,

Of the $8.9 million in donations they spent in 2011, this is the breakdown: $1.7 million in US employee salaries $357,000 in Film costs $850,000 in Production costs $751,000 in Computer equipment $244,000 in "professional services" (DC lobbyists) $1.07 million in travel expenses $400,000 in yearly office rent in downtown San Diego $16,000 in Entertainment etc... Only 2.8 million (31%) made it to their charity program (which is further whittled down by local Ugandan government officials) - what do the children actually get?

Their rating on Charity Navigator is because they haven't had their financial books independently audited, and have no independent board members ...which is not a surprising given the use of cash noted above.

Sudayev you are correct to raise suspicions about this charity and I doubt giving them money would solve anything. I have watched money pour into Africa for decades and it seems to evaporate as soon as it gets there. Expensive cars and houses seem to grow very well for a certain few though. Anyone wishing to donate to anything should choose very carefully!

However, if you chose only to work with non-corrupt, democratic governments in Africa you would soon find yourself with no one to work with. Also if you were to arrest people for crimes against humanity by western standards it would in fact be easier to build a fence around the entire continent. The US is doing the only thing possible and is focusing on the worst criminals while working with lesser criminals and hoping to change things. That is the uncomfortable reality.

Can I also point out that millions of tonnes of eastern block weapons were dumped in Africa from the 1950's onwards with no conditions placed on their use with the results we see today. Much of the horrific mutilation and violence was a method taught by North Korean and Chinese military advisors as a means of terror to control rural populations. In the country where I lived they would go from village to village picking victims at random, killing, burning, raping, forced cannibalism, hacking off lips ears and noses and leaving the clear message that if people didn't do what they said, worse would happen. The men that did this were fresh from communist training camps and armed with SKS, AKM & RPK rifles. So this whining about a small US involvement from the usual suspects does not really make any sense.

Its disgusting how this has exploded all over the web the last 36 hours... i would have hoped we were smart enough not to get sucked in by it here. Evidently I was wrong...

One of my friends summed it up nicely on facebook this morning:

A mass murderer in Africa in an extremely complicated situation makes a 5 year old kid in America 'sad'. Let's all change our profile pictures, link the video and put some posters up. Problem solved. And if Kony is killed that'll be the end of all of Africas problems just like killing Bin Laden was the end of terrorism... Oh wait...

Originally Posted by ***LeGeNDK1LLER***

well you are 1 of the greatest examples that pressing the reply button doesn't mean necessarily answering.

Who is claiming killing Joseph Kony will solve all of Africa's problems? It will solve the problem of Joseph Kony, who knows what will happen to his brainwashed child army. But it's a step in the right direction as this mass murderer can't be allowed to continue can he?

That facebook quote sums up some ridiculous soundbites that no one believes. Sums up someone with warped logic. Also putting ..Oh wait... at the end of something is getting nearly as irritating and meaningless as ....arrow to the knee...lol.

The OP is perfectly correct that something should be done about Kony. That idea should not be lessened just because of some oddball charity and their stupid video.